Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 4:53 AM ET

TREX max pain

Spot (delayed)$49.63
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$45-9.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.2±14.5% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.35351 puts / 992 calls
Call wall$47.5largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3042.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$67Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $47.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$42.5-14.4%5d
Fri, Sep 18$45-9.3%33d
Fri, Oct 16$45-9.3%61d
Fri, Dec 18$40-19.4%124d
Fri, Jan 15$42.5-14.4%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45203040506070$2M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot452030405060305305
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TREX open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot45203040506033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot203040506070156%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 47.52030405060+$27K$27K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.0132.50.00710.02-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01350.01000.03-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.0137.50.01410.03-0.01-0.09
0.86-0.02400.01960.04-0.02-0.13
0.81-0.0242.50.02660.06-0.02-0.19
0.73-0.02450.03430.07-0.03-0.26
0.64-0.0347.50.04140.08-0.03-0.36
0.53-0.03500.04580.08-0.03-0.47
0.41-0.0352.50.04590.08-0.03-0.59
0.31-0.02550.04200.07-0.02-0.69
0.23-0.0257.50.03560.06-0.02-0.78
0.16-0.02600.02860.05-0.02-0.85
0.08-0.01650.01680.03-0.01-0.94
0.04-0.01700.00930.02-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot27.53542.55057.5708930
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot20304050601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: TREX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk